Ahmedabad: 19-year-old hacks FB accounts, cons users' friends

A 19-year-old fraudster from Ahmedabad was arrested by the Rajkot Cyber Cell on Wednesday. The teenager used to hack into Facebook accounts and then con the user's friends and relatives.

The accused has been identified as Genius Patel (19), a resident of Meghaninagar area. The accused works as a food delivery boy and has done a course in Industrial Training Institute.

According to police officials, two complaints were lodged with the Rajkot Cyber cell, where both the victims' Facebook accounts were hacked. Through the user's account, the hacker was asking for money from the victim's friends and relatives for a medical emergency.

While investigating the matter, the cyber cell officials' technical team found out that the hacker was operating from Ahmedabad and a team was sent there to nab the accused, Patel.

During Patel's interrogation, officials found out that the accused used to hack random people's Facebook accounts. Once the account was hacked, he used to contact the user's relatives and friends through messenger, asking for money. Patel used to say he has a medical emergency and is in urgent need of money. Then, Patel used to provide his Paytm and bank account details, into which, the money would be transferred.

Sub-Inspector D B Gadhvi of Rajkot cyber cell stated that, "The accused used to ask for small amounts. The investigation revealed that for the past six months, the accused had been hacking accounts and duping people. Primary investigation has revealed that until now, 50 accounts have been hacked by the accused and around Rs 1 lakh cash was transferred to his Paytm and bank account."